Europe Day 1
We left our home away from home on June 30th with rest and relaxation and less stress in mind.After spending the last month packing and planning we all needed a little less stress. That lasted until we landed in Rome or rather, when we tried to get out of the airport. Even that was not that bad. The part where I almost lost it was when we stood in line for 20 minutes to buy a train ticket and just when we were going to run to the train, Miranda said the words you really don't want to hear when you are in a hurry. "I have to go to the bathroom". Well where in the world is the bathroom? You could tell from the way she was crossing her legs that she wasn't kidding. So I took a quick glance around to find one that was close. Well things were looking up. So off we ran while Dean and Colton watched the bags. Down the stairs and there it was…. Oh no, we had to pay to get in. Well lucky for us Dean had given me some change before to try to use the phone and so I had something resembling money in my pocket. Try as we did, we had a really hard time figuring out how this thing was supposed to work . Finally we saw a change maker on the far wall and I got the correct change to get us in. Fhew, that was close.
We ran back up to the guys and took off to find the train among the many gates. There it was! We ran to the train, jumped on to find that it was packed. Totally packed, right to the doors. With just enough room for us. From experience we knew to ask the first person who looked friendly if we were on the right train. We asked a lady that we were standing next to and she looked at the place we wanted to go and the ticket and said "no, we were NOT on the right train" Ahhh! So we asked someone else (because you can't necessarily trust the first person), and no everyone around looked and said we were on the wrong train. We quickly got off as the train was ready to take off. So there we were, again standing on the platform waiting, not knowing where to go, again. We looked around for a info desk or something to get some kind of information on what to do. Nothing. We asked many a passing person for help. Nothing. We asked a police officer if he could point us in the direction of a info desk, and that was the most interesting. He said in perfect English "I don't speak English". So I said in my perfect imitation Italian accent, " Oh, information desk?". He looked me right in the face and said in a very condescending voice, "I don't speak English" and rolled his eyes. I said to Dean that he was a bit of a rude Italian B****** and then got crap from Colton for swearing. Yes, my best look under stress. So I apologized to Colton and we got back on our way for the search for the way to get out of this awful, busy city. This was the point that I remembered hearing about a girl who wanted to go to Europe after high school by her self and backpack around. She got to Europe and turned right around and came home. At this moment, I wanted to turn around and go home. I got tears in my eyes as I thought of all the hours we had been traveling that day and I thought of the hostel that we booked cancelling our reservation because we were late. I thought of a nice warm bed and food. We hadn't eaten anything but airplane food all day and night. It was already 6pm and we needed to get to our hostel and we couldn't figure it out. I was so frustrated. Because I had booked this stupid hostel I felt to blame that we couldn't find it. But Dean, ever so calmly said we would go back to the ticket booth (which was a far walk away and we still had to carry all our backpacks) and get new tickets. So we followed him back there as I wiped my tears of frustration away. The ticket guys was oh so sorry and issued us new tickets to the right town. So we ran back to the area to find the train to the right town. It was supposed to leave at 6:24 which came and gone, then at 7pm. As we ran back looking around for a schedule and gate number a man saw our frustration and helped us to call the hostel from a pay phone and tell them we were on our way. They told him they would be at the station waiting for us. That took away some stress knowing they at least knew we would be there that night. Dean went to read the time board again as we realized they had changed the train at the last moment and everyone ran for the new train gate and jumped on the train that was getting ready to leave. It was packed. Standing room only, with our packs we found a spot along a hallway and stairs and people kept jumping on and squishing in and soon we just huddled there together in the heat and again we asked the people around us who for a country that supposedly all speak English didn't understand us. Other than one young guy. Who in his broken English said we were on the right train as he was going to the same town. Yeah!!! So there we stood, without a window to look out of without knowing where we were going really, but at least we were going somewhere. I was not going to take my eye off the guy.
We rode the train for an hour till the guy said this is our stop and we all pulled our way out from the crowd into the fresh air. We followed the crowd of people walking to the station and there we found the hostel people waiting for us with their car. Oh thank God we were here. He helped us in and took us up the hill a bit and 5 min. later we were putting our pack down and sitting in our room. Ahhh, it was all good. The hostel is great, we are out of the city and in a small town where it is quiet and slow. They ordered us pizza from a great little shop and Dean went with them to pick it up. We sat down to a thin crust authentic Italian pizza at 9pm and went to bed. Day 1 over.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Family Sabatical
We have sold the house packed our backpacks with what we will need for 2 months and off we go to the airport. We had to give our 2 dogs, Tasha and Sandy away to very good homes. We have had Tasha since she was a puppy and we have had Sandy for the last 3 or 4 years. It was a bit sad but it made it so much easier to leave them knowing they both are in such great homes.
Our first stop is Rome, Italy. We stay in Rome for 3 days and then take a ferry to Greece to an island called Corfu where we will stay for a week or so. From there we will travel by bus or train up the coast through the countries like Bosnia, Croatia, Albania, Slovenia till Venice. We will spend a few days touring Venice and then go down to the Mediterranean to an area called the Cinque Terra. Then follow the coast through France, Spain, down to Morocco and the we will spend the last few weeks in Portugal.
It sounds like a very busy 2 months and it will be. But that is the way we love to travel. During the next 2 months I will try to post blog entries to tell a little about what we have done.
Our first stop is Rome, Italy. We stay in Rome for 3 days and then take a ferry to Greece to an island called Corfu where we will stay for a week or so. From there we will travel by bus or train up the coast through the countries like Bosnia, Croatia, Albania, Slovenia till Venice. We will spend a few days touring Venice and then go down to the Mediterranean to an area called the Cinque Terra. Then follow the coast through France, Spain, down to Morocco and the we will spend the last few weeks in Portugal.
It sounds like a very busy 2 months and it will be. But that is the way we love to travel. During the next 2 months I will try to post blog entries to tell a little about what we have done.
Friday, June 12, 2009
experiencing the world
We have come to believe our children are at the age when they should be experiencing the world first hand rather than through books, videos and second-hand stories. ("Who knows the flower best? The one who reads about it in a book, or the one who finds it wild on the mountainside?" Alexandra David-Neal). And despite the tensions and wars and revolutions and terrorism we are bludgeoned with daily in newspaper headlines, we believe our world has more to offer, more to learn, more to see and feel than ever in its history. And we want to share what we learn with them and you.
That's why we're going to make this trek, this voyage of discovery. In his journals, Charles Darwin wrote before he left on his epic journey, "I long to set foot where no man has trod before." We know that is nearly impossible to do in a world that has been photographed from every angle of space. But we do hope to plunge into the unknown, our unknown. We look as forward to telling the stories of what we find as we do to finding it, whatever and where ever it may be.
Most people we talk with are envious. Some seem to worry about their own list of imagined fears (mom). A few have been honest enough to call us crazy (dad), and others wonder why we're doing this now rather than when we retire (three guesses why). But at least we seem to know why we're doing it.
In fact, at this point, only a step and heartbeat before we leave, it's much like what John Wesley Powell wrote in his journals before he and his crew attempted their historic 1869 boat trip down the mighty Colorado River: "This morning we are ready to enter the mysterious canyon and start with some anxiety. The old mountaineers tell us that it cannot be run; the Indians say, 'Water heap catch 'em;' but all are eager for the trial, and off we go."
I don't want to get to the end of my life and say that I never did anything that I truly wanted to because I WAS TOO AFRAID. I'm fed up with being afraid of things that really don't amount to much—things like what if it rains and I didn’t get the grass cut, what if I filled out the income tax form incorrectly, what if the horses eat to much grass and founder, what if our van breaks down. I'm ready to be afraid of real things. In doing this, it may help others take that same leap of faith, and do something really cool, something that will help make our world a better place and better understood.
We want to give Colton and Miranda the gift of incredible memories (my own favorite childhood memories center around our annual family road trips and camping trips). To show them that dreams can be lived, not just put away to gather dust or be stared at with wistful sighs and "what ifs" over yet another cup of coffee. To give them a peek at what an incredible place we live in, and the people and things we share it with. And to spend time, real time, with them, our children. They will be our 50-hour work-week.
To see the paths of others in the world. To see where their dreams have taken them. I can see that through their paths, we will find our own. To see the sun come up in places and among people I can't truly imagine. To learn new things, and remember others. Our best times are times that we share together as a family.
We are drowning in a sea of things and commitments and I want to drown in a sea of experiences and time. Sometimes you have to leave to discover what you have. This is our family dream…..please share it with us.
That's why we're going to make this trek, this voyage of discovery. In his journals, Charles Darwin wrote before he left on his epic journey, "I long to set foot where no man has trod before." We know that is nearly impossible to do in a world that has been photographed from every angle of space. But we do hope to plunge into the unknown, our unknown. We look as forward to telling the stories of what we find as we do to finding it, whatever and where ever it may be.
Most people we talk with are envious. Some seem to worry about their own list of imagined fears (mom). A few have been honest enough to call us crazy (dad), and others wonder why we're doing this now rather than when we retire (three guesses why). But at least we seem to know why we're doing it.
In fact, at this point, only a step and heartbeat before we leave, it's much like what John Wesley Powell wrote in his journals before he and his crew attempted their historic 1869 boat trip down the mighty Colorado River: "This morning we are ready to enter the mysterious canyon and start with some anxiety. The old mountaineers tell us that it cannot be run; the Indians say, 'Water heap catch 'em;' but all are eager for the trial, and off we go."
I don't want to get to the end of my life and say that I never did anything that I truly wanted to because I WAS TOO AFRAID. I'm fed up with being afraid of things that really don't amount to much—things like what if it rains and I didn’t get the grass cut, what if I filled out the income tax form incorrectly, what if the horses eat to much grass and founder, what if our van breaks down. I'm ready to be afraid of real things. In doing this, it may help others take that same leap of faith, and do something really cool, something that will help make our world a better place and better understood.
We want to give Colton and Miranda the gift of incredible memories (my own favorite childhood memories center around our annual family road trips and camping trips). To show them that dreams can be lived, not just put away to gather dust or be stared at with wistful sighs and "what ifs" over yet another cup of coffee. To give them a peek at what an incredible place we live in, and the people and things we share it with. And to spend time, real time, with them, our children. They will be our 50-hour work-week.
To see the paths of others in the world. To see where their dreams have taken them. I can see that through their paths, we will find our own. To see the sun come up in places and among people I can't truly imagine. To learn new things, and remember others. Our best times are times that we share together as a family.
We are drowning in a sea of things and commitments and I want to drown in a sea of experiences and time. Sometimes you have to leave to discover what you have. This is our family dream…..please share it with us.
Monday, June 8, 2009
Packing up
Who would think that they would like packing. I do for some unknown reason. Maybe it's the cleaning out of the dark cornners of the house. \maybe it's finding all the lost treasures of my life. I don't know exactly why, but it's been kinda fun.
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Dream come true
A few years ago the dream became to sell our house. The house we spent countless hours building. Through sweat, tears and years of building. We envisioned retiring in this house and watching the sunsets through our front windows forever. Our house has become a place for people to come and feel comfortable. There is always an open door and a pan of cake or something good to eat ready to share with anyone who walks up our front steps. Our joy is sharing what we have with our friends, family and anyone who needs a place to be. There have been days that we look at our beautiful yard with all the hundreds of trees we lovingly planted and all the cedars and pine trees that we transplanted from ditches out east and it is hard to think about leaving. But we know this is the plan. This idea, dream, thought was placed on our hearts for a reason and we trust it. We know that God has something for us to do. We are ready.
So when after many lookers passed through our home. A family came to see. From the first moment I saw them and talked to them I knew. These where the people, these were to be our new neighbors. Wow. After so long, how could it be that it seemed the perfect family had come. Oh ya, I forgot who was in control. Who we had left it up to. All this time we had to be patient and we were (most of the time). We and our neighbors across the road had been praying for 2 years for the exact family that would be perfect to move in and I trust they are. They are great! They happen to have a name from our family and also the family across the road. They have similar interests as we do and we already feel like this is their home. As we pack up the house and pack our stuff into boxes we think about where this move will bring us and how cool the ride has been. How close our family has become through this experience.
Monday, May 4, 2009
Dreams
What’s in a dream? Why bother dreaming? These are questions that many ask themselves. Sometimes it seems that others are in places in life that we look at and think “cool”. I want to say that it is good to dream. It is your right to dream and dreams can come true.
When I was a young girl, I dreamt of a prince in shining armor ridding up and carrying me away. Probably a fairly normal dream given Cinderella and Snow white were the hits of those years. I sometimes thought I wasn’t good enough or pretty enough. But I dreamt it any ways. Dreams are good.
As I got older I dreamt of having a horse and winning medals. My mom and dad let me go to 4-H and learn to ride. They bought me a horse and I spent my summers ridding and showing.
When I became a teenager. I dreamt of meeting prince charming again. When I was 16 I did. You see, I never was told dreams don’t come true, but it was implied. But I never believed it.
Backing up a bit, my dream of meeting prince charming was even bigger than that. I dreamt of getting married, having children, being a hairdresser, but still staying home with my kids, having horses, living on a farm of having my big dream house. Wow, I dreamt specifically and big. But who cares after all they are just dreams. They are free and allowed, right?
It was only when I became older where people would mock “the dream”. They would say things like. Is he good enough, why do you want to cut hair? Why do you want to live on the farm? Why do you want horses, you don’t ride enough? You know, horses should be ridden more, you can’t look after such a big yard and have kids and work at home. Why do you go camping so much? It’s too much work………….Hmmmm. People don’t think dreams come true. Do they?
Well, I do. I will have my prince (20 years and counting), my children (9 and 13), my dream house (I love it), my horses (2). I will go camping and fishing and have a big yard. I will travel and take my children to places that are different. Why not?
When we bought our yard, people thought it was too big. That was 15 years ago. When we decided to build our dream house. People thought it was too big. When we decide to try to build it ourselves. People said “what?” When we decide to both be self-employed, people thought it wasn’t safe enough. When we decided to travel even though we had children, people thought we shouldn’t. When we decided to put it all up for sale people said we couldn’t.
Dreams are cool. I still think they are. I still believe they come true.
We have BIG dreams, because we can. The thing is if you never dream it, you may never achieve it. I’m not saying dreams aren’t sometimes had work. They can be, there are times when I am so tired of all the work. But sometimes you just need to step out of your comfort zone, climb up on that roof and learn to shingle. LOL
When I was a young girl, I dreamt of a prince in shining armor ridding up and carrying me away. Probably a fairly normal dream given Cinderella and Snow white were the hits of those years. I sometimes thought I wasn’t good enough or pretty enough. But I dreamt it any ways. Dreams are good.
As I got older I dreamt of having a horse and winning medals. My mom and dad let me go to 4-H and learn to ride. They bought me a horse and I spent my summers ridding and showing.
When I became a teenager. I dreamt of meeting prince charming again. When I was 16 I did. You see, I never was told dreams don’t come true, but it was implied. But I never believed it.
Backing up a bit, my dream of meeting prince charming was even bigger than that. I dreamt of getting married, having children, being a hairdresser, but still staying home with my kids, having horses, living on a farm of having my big dream house. Wow, I dreamt specifically and big. But who cares after all they are just dreams. They are free and allowed, right?
It was only when I became older where people would mock “the dream”. They would say things like. Is he good enough, why do you want to cut hair? Why do you want to live on the farm? Why do you want horses, you don’t ride enough? You know, horses should be ridden more, you can’t look after such a big yard and have kids and work at home. Why do you go camping so much? It’s too much work………….Hmmmm. People don’t think dreams come true. Do they?
Well, I do. I will have my prince (20 years and counting), my children (9 and 13), my dream house (I love it), my horses (2). I will go camping and fishing and have a big yard. I will travel and take my children to places that are different. Why not?
When we bought our yard, people thought it was too big. That was 15 years ago. When we decided to build our dream house. People thought it was too big. When we decide to try to build it ourselves. People said “what?” When we decide to both be self-employed, people thought it wasn’t safe enough. When we decided to travel even though we had children, people thought we shouldn’t. When we decided to put it all up for sale people said we couldn’t.
Dreams are cool. I still think they are. I still believe they come true.
We have BIG dreams, because we can. The thing is if you never dream it, you may never achieve it. I’m not saying dreams aren’t sometimes had work. They can be, there are times when I am so tired of all the work. But sometimes you just need to step out of your comfort zone, climb up on that roof and learn to shingle. LOL
Sunday, January 18, 2009
scuba diving in Utila
The second week that we were in Honduras we travelled by boat to a very small island called Utila. We wanted to do some scuba Diving and snorkeling. We also heard that Utila is where the Whale Sharks migrate this time of year. Our first trip out we were told by the captain of the boat that there had been some sightings recently and he hoped to spot them. We dove our first tank and when we stopped for our first tank interval the boat captain said that Whale Sharks had been spotted and we took off on the hunt. A few miles out we came to the first one. They briefed us on the procedure to enter the water and how to approach the great beauties. Whe made a pass in front of the first one and we all slipped into the water with our snorkel gear and swam as fast as possible to get a glimpse. The first half were lucky and had a great look. The back half of of us entering the water were to far back to get a good look. So the captain took off once we were all back in the boat to get another look. This time I scooted to the back with Colton in front of me. I wanted to make sure Colton had a chance to swim with the next one.
A few minutes later we found another big one. About 25 feet long and beautiful. What a sight! We once again silently slipped into the water and there it was, right in front of us. Slowly gliding through the water, in no hurry to get away from us. It actually looked like it wanted us to get a good look. Apparently when they realize there are people near they often dive down, but this one swam slowly away from us giving us a great look! Wow what an adventure. There are people who have worked these waters for years as scuba instructors and have never seen a Whale Shark. There were a lot of happy people on our boat that day.
During our dives we met a guy with a camera that dove in our group. Genrally I don't like diving with photographers because they often don't watch where they are going as they are so into taking pictures. I have been kicked and bumped from them trying to get a great shot. But this guy was great. He stayed back and was very respectful of the rest of us. At the end of our dive he asked if he could take a picture of us and we said that that would be great. So he sent us a link to his picture account.
This is a blurry picture of the Whale Shark.
These are a few of the things that we saw during our dive in Utila.
www.flickr.com/photos/neroshelper/
A few minutes later we found another big one. About 25 feet long and beautiful. What a sight! We once again silently slipped into the water and there it was, right in front of us. Slowly gliding through the water, in no hurry to get away from us. It actually looked like it wanted us to get a good look. Apparently when they realize there are people near they often dive down, but this one swam slowly away from us giving us a great look! Wow what an adventure. There are people who have worked these waters for years as scuba instructors and have never seen a Whale Shark. There were a lot of happy people on our boat that day.
During our dives we met a guy with a camera that dove in our group. Genrally I don't like diving with photographers because they often don't watch where they are going as they are so into taking pictures. I have been kicked and bumped from them trying to get a great shot. But this guy was great. He stayed back and was very respectful of the rest of us. At the end of our dive he asked if he could take a picture of us and we said that that would be great. So he sent us a link to his picture account.
This is a blurry picture of the Whale Shark.
These are a few of the things that we saw during our dive in Utila.
www.flickr.com/photos/neroshelper/
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